I also like to re-create synthetic sounds so they might sound more like a groan an animal might make or something. There’s so much harmonic stuff going on in those natural textures the synthetic sounds don’t really compare. Turning organic sounds and voices into instruments is something I really love doing. You didn’t typically hear eerie choirs like those on “Palace” on trap songs back in 2011. I think part of what sounds so new is how you flip such niche samples and re-structure Imogen Heap howls so they take the place of synths. That’s what A$AP Rocky represented.” To celebrate A$AP Rocky’s debut mixtape turning 10 and coming to DSPs for the first time, we spoke to Clams Casino about the project’s legacy, his unique chemistry with the Harlem rapper, and where the producer’s head is at in 2021. Trying to deflect the attention away from his own contributions to the project, the 34-year-old continues: “It was about creating a new sound.
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“This project was all about being fearless,” the producer, who has also worked with Lil Peep, Mac Miller, and The Weeknd, said during an afternoon phone call earlier this month. Clams Casino beats were the launchpad that A$AP Rocky used to become an international star. The producer’s work on $AP retains its raw power today, still capable of improving a late night car ride, or acting as the fuel for a party sequence in HBO’s Euphoria. Clams’ production creates something so euphoric that Rocky is able to simply repeat the word “bass” over and over, and yet still make a profound impact on the listener. It’s dripping with attitude and sex, and experimentalist Clams (real name Michael Volpe) deftly flips the downtrodden song it sampled ( Imogen Heap’s “Just For Now” ). “ Bass” is even better, immersing you in a whirlpool of thumping bass lines and scattered, moaning synths. This is all commonplace now, but it wasn’t back in 2011. It’s a deep meditative groove that sounds like it’s being played out of a broken cassette player, and a “ticklish” Rocky made it cool for heterosexual alpha-males to be effeminate. You could make a convincing argument that Clams’ “ Wassup” beat, where Rocky drops cocky sing-a-long melodies about being “that pretty motherfucker,” also wrote the template for the decade’s dominant lo-fi rap scene. Harlem’s new King can’t quite believe how great the beat sounds, rapping: “Goddamn, how real is this?” “ Palace” is the perfect opener, with Clams’ use of crashing symbols and a transcendent choir (sampled from a song that typically plays over images of polar bears roaring during National Geographic documentaries) feeling like an epic, mountain-top coronation. Yet the production from Clams Casino (who produced five tracks on the album) is perhaps an even bigger reason behind why $AP has been embraced as a classic. The street guys had been given a seat next to Anna Wintour at New York Fashion Week.
He also transferred the Bone Thugs-N-Harmony flow to the catwalk, projecting an infectious, larger-than-life confidence that inspired teenagers everywhere from London to L.A. Rocky essentially united the hustlers and the internet cool kids, summarized perfectly on the refreshingly honest “ Demons,” where he boasted: “I’m a hipster by heart, but I can tell you how the streets feel.”
It also presented a warped take on electronic music, which in turn attracted Aphex Twin fans. Released on Halloween 2011, the album was a bridge between the East and the South. Everything had to be purple.īy bringing all these elements together, Rocky’s debut mixtape gave the world something fresh and exciting. Although Rocky and his friends worshipped the line-pushing hubris of local heroes like Big L and Cam’ron, their ear was more inclined to the melodic yet sedated trap sound of DJ Screw, SpaceGhostPurrp (who produced “ Keep It G” on $AP) and Pimp C - music which made most sense when processed through a mind fogged by drugs. Rocky was part of a generation of New Yorkers who found themselves during an era where the South had all the coolest rappers. However, A$AP Rocky’s $AP and its melting pot of influences were an inevitability. Double cups and gold grills appearing in a rap upstart named Rakim’s colorful music videos served as a painful reminder that Atlanta was now inspiring the birthplace of hip-hop… and not the other way round. Some of New York’s more traditional rap fans had a problem with an obnoxious kid from Harlem mixing distorted boom bap with woozy chopped and screwed vocals. With A$AP Rocky celebrating the 10 year anniversary of his classic debut $AP, we spoke with Clams Casino about the unique chemistry he shares with the Harlem rapper. Released on Halloween 2011, A$AP Rocky’s debut mixtape, $AP, gave the world something fresh and exciting.
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